1. January 9, 2018 UAB Cancer Research Experiences for Students
Overview of the “CaRES” Program
Dr. Peter Smith & Dr. John Waterbor, Directors
Dr. C. Michael Brooks, Evaluation Director
UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
January 9, 2018

2. Goals of the CaRES Program
CaRES is an “R25” research training grant funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support students to undertake short cancer research projects Long-term goal: motivate participating students to pursue careers in cancer research. Short-term goals: provide each student with the support needed to undertake a mentored cancer research project; provide each preceptor with a capable student who can facilitate his or her research progress. Overarching goal: to become recognized as a model for short-term cancer research education and training. Sept. 2016: CaRES made an invited presentation at NCI

3. Background of CaRES CaRES first funded in 1999, now in year 18
In 2015, CaRES was renewed for
To date has supported about 700 medical students and graduate students to do short cancer research projects
Preceptors are UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty
Through summer 2015, all projects were done at UAB
Longitudinal tracking of CaRES students found:
15% remain actively involved in cancer research
27% published cancer-related, peer-reviewed papers after doing CaRES, about 500 papers through 2017

4. Eligible Students
Because CaRES funding is from the NCI, only American citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. are eligible
Our pools of eligible students are:
UAB medical students and graduate public health students
USA medical students
Auburn veterinary medicine and pharmacy students
Samford pharmacy and graduate public health students
ACOM medical students
Undergraduates and high school students are not eligible.

5. CaRES Student-Preceptor Self-Matching Process
In February and early March, UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty members who want a CaRES student to work with them in the summer, post their project descriptions on
Students read each project description and identify projects to which they are well-suited, based on their background and career interests
Students their CV to the preceptor of each project that interests them, and request an interview as soon as possible.
Students interview for as many CaRES projects as they wish, and preceptors interview as many students as they wish.
Once a student and a preceptor agree to work together, they Dr. Waterbor to claim one of our CaRES internship slots.
Typically, all internship slots are filled by about March 1!

6. CaRES Student-Preceptor Self-Matching Process begins
UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty members post their project descriptions
February-March
Based on their background students apply to as many projects they are interested in
Students are interviewed by preceptors until a match for the project is found
Typically, all internship slots are filled around March 1st!
Dr. Waterbor to confirm match. Each Student-Preceptor pair completes the Individual Development Plans
Full time internship begins for approximately 8-15 weeks depending on Student-Preceptor agreement
May 21st-August 31st
CaRES Student-Preceptor Self-Matching Process begins
During your internship
CaRES Seminar Series
CaRES Poster day (July)

7. CaRES website

8. CaRES Faculty Preceptors
CaRES preceptors are drawn from 400 UAB Cancer Center faculty having appointments in one of six research divisions: 1) Inflammation, Immunology, and Immuno-therapeutics 2) Cancer Cell Biology 3) Experimental Therapeutics 4) Neuro-Oncology 5) Cancer Control and Population Sciences 6) Cancer Chemoprevention

9. Fundable Cancer Research Projects
Any type of cancer research project submitted by CCC faculty members can be funded by CaRES.
CaRES Projects funded over the past 3 years:
Basic Science (including animal research) – 35%
Clinical (cancer patients) – 35%
Community (people at risk for cancer) – 25%
Analytical (secondary data) – 5%
In recent years many CaRES projects have focused on cancers of the breast, ovary, cervix, skin, and brain; or on obesity, diet, and tobacco use; or on cancer survivorship.

10. Internship Weeks, Settings, & Pay
8 -15 weeks in summer (May 21 – August 31, 2018)
Specific start and end dates for each project are negotiated between preceptor and student, according to their availability and in light of the demands of the project
The only approved Performance Sites are UAB and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, AL
Student pay is $400/week for full-time effort (~40 hrs/wk)
CaRES can pay for training-related expenses (e.g., poster preparation) and travel to meetings, as our budget allows
Students must arrange and pay for their own housing at UAB or at HudsonAlpha (see CaRES website for advice)

11. Seminars, RCR, & Poster Session
CaRES Seminar Series: 6 hours of in-class instruction on career development and the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), with online RCR assignments (additional RCR information available from the UAB Graduate School website)
CaRES Poster Day: in July all CaRES students showcase their work
UAB medical students can keep their posters and present them at Medical Student Research Day in the fall
All CaRES students may present their posters at the UAB-CCC Annual Research Retreat in the fall; the best poster receives a travel award
All CaRES students are encouraged to work with their preceptors to present their CaRES research at professional meetings, via poster or podium format

12. CaRES Poster Day

13. Important Features of CaRES
Self-matching process of students to projects & preceptors
Flexible start & end dates within a 15-week window in summer
Over 400 UAB Cancer Center faculty are eligible to be preceptors
Recruitment of students from several professional and biomedical graduate programs: medicine, public health, veterinary medicine, and pharmacy and from several universities
Up to 6 projects can be based at HudsonAlpha in Huntsville
High project completion rate due to Individual Development Plans completed by each student-preceptor pair before summer begins
Instruction in the RCR and Career Development
Favorable short-term and longitudinal program evaluation results (see CaRES website for summaries of annual evaluations)

14. Publications about CaRES
Daniel CL, Brooks CM, Waterbor JW. Approaches for longitudinally tracking graduates of NCI-funded short-term cancer research training programs. J Cancer Educ 2011; 26:58–63
Desmond R, Padilla LA, Daniel Cl, Prickett CT, Venkatesh R, Brooks M, Waterbor JW. Career outcomes of graduates of R25E short-term cancer research training programs. J Cancer Educ 2016;31 (1):
Padilla LA, Venkatesh R, Daniel CL, Desmond RA, Brooks CM, Waterbor JW. An evaluation methodology for longitudinal studies of short-term cancer research training programs. J Cancer Educ 2016; 31(1): NIHMSID: NIHMS PubMed [journal] PMID: , PMCID: PMC
Padilla LA, Desmond RA, Brooks CM, Waterbor JW. Automated Literature Searches for Longitudinal Tracking of Cancer Research Training Program Graduates. J Cancer Educ 2016; PubMed PMID: , PMCID PMC This paper won the American Association of Cancer Education (AACE) Presidential Prize Paper Award in 2016

15. Reasons Why the CaRES Program Has Been Successful
Large pool of bright and highly-motivated students of varied backgrounds and disciplines from which to recruit
Excellent (and numerous) UAB faculty preceptors who are active in cancer research and enjoy mentoring students
Dedicated CaRES program faculty (Drs. Smith, Waterbor, Brooks, Desmond, and Litton) and staff (Internship Coordinator Judy Baker; Website Developer Dan Camburn)
UAB’s collaborative and student-oriented environment

16. Questions? Contact Dr. Waterbor (Ryals Building-227C, , Thank you! The CaRES team: Dr. Renee Desmond, Dr. John Waterbor, Ms. Judy Baker, Dr. Peter Smith, and Dr. Allison Litton (not pictured: Dr. Michael Brooks, Mr. Daniel Camburn)